“You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth,” John 4:22-24.

“How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” John 4:9.

The woman from Samaria was surprised that this man would be asking her for a drink.

“If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water,” John 4:10.

Jesus says that the really amazing thing is she is not asking Him for water. He calls it “living water” and He calls it the “gift of God.”

Jesus spoke to this woman at the well about many things. He told her that she had many husbands and that the one she was now living with was not her husband. She diverted the conversation and began to speak about religion with Him. He told her that the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to worship Him.

The overall lesson about worshiping the LORD in spirit and truth is that worship is not confined to a single place or regulated by the rules of Old Testament law. With the coming of Christ, the separation between Jew and Gentile was no longer relevant, and the temple wasn’t to be the central place of worshiping Him.

Worship became a matter of the heart, not following rigid rules or becoming ceremonial.

True worship in the Spirit must involve a passion for God and one’s entire heart. When one is told to sit down at a certain point, stand up for a song to sing now, can become very ceremonial.

There is a set time for the offering to be taken. There is a set time for just about everything to be done during some services today and yet when is the time for us to make room for the Spirit to speak?

Oftentimes during a song and worship segment during a service, room can be given to allow the Holy Spirit to speak through certain individuals. A lot of times, I find that things go on as usual, and the Spirit is quenched.

We need a certain amount of order and decency in a church service, but not to the detriment of allowing room for the Holy Spirit.

I would have to say that if a church, an assembly, a home church, or whatever, has everything so pinned-down that everything happens at a certain time, then they aren’t worshiping in spirit and in truth.

Find the time personally to worship in spirit and in truth individually. It’s true that Worship can be anywhere and anytime and in whatever form focuses my adoration on God.

I don’t have to walk down to the First Assembly of God and show up at 10:30 A.M to worship in spirit and in truth. I don’t have to go to the Friday night prayer meeting to “meet God.” I don’t have to go to the Holy Ghost Revival at such-and-such a place to get on my knees and feel the power of God. I can do this wherever and whenever I begin to seek His face and worship Him.

We don’t need a formula or a prerequisite to do this. I don’t need to be ordained through a certain seminary. We now ALL have access to His throne. We don’t need a high priest. Jesus is our high priest.

 

Selah,
~ Stephen Hanson

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Stephen Hanson of In His Truth Ministries came to the LORD is a special way in 1975 and has prophesied regularly since. In these end-time birthing pangs we are reminded that judgment must first begin with the household of God. Will we be prepared and ready?

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